No. 9 - Quagga - Top 10 Extinct Animals | HowStuffWorks Top 10 Extinct Animals Quagga DCL The quagga is a mammal closely related to modern horses and zebras. In fact, it looks like a cross between a horse and a zebra, with stripes only on its head and neck that disappear as they approach the brownish hindquarters of the animal. The quagga was native to desert areas of South Africa until it was hunted to extinction in the 1870s. The last captive animals died in Europe in the 1880s. As an extinct species, the quagga has a couple claims to fame. For starters, it was the first animal to have its DNA analyzed, which led to the discovery that the quagga was not a distinct species but a subspecies of the plains zebra. Also, the quagga is the subject of an ambitious breeding effort by the aptly named Quagga Project, the result of which was a foal born in 2005.

Based on appearances, the "re-created" quagga closely resembles the ancient quagga, but DNA evidence has yet to determine whether this animal is authentic. The Quagga Click on the image above to view the full-sized version! An audio introduction to the Quagga. The quagga (Equus quagga) is a recently extinct mammal, closely related to horses and zebras . It was a yellowish-brown zebra with stripes only on its head, neck and foreboday. The quagga was native to desert areas of the African continent until it was exterminated in the wild in the 1870s. The last captive quaggas died in Europe in the 1880s. Top 10 Extinct Animals Top 10 Extinct Animals This is the latest list of Extinct Animals released by the Animal Planet.... No. 10 - Passenger Pigeon The earliest settlers in the New World were amazed by the passenger pigeon, a bird with flocks so huge that it would take days for them to travel overhead, blackening the sky as they passed.

Any farmer who had the misfortune of hosting passenger pigeons for a meal would quickly find his entire crop decimated within the blink of an eye. Then, virtually overnight, the most abundant bird in North America suddenly disappeared from the planet. The extinction of the passenger pigeon is an example of nature coming into direct conflict with man. Its population numbered an astounding 3 to 5 billion when the first Europeans arrived in America. However, there was not room enough in the New World for both species. Passenger pigeons were soon wiped out due to merciless hunting, deforestation and other factors related to humankind's ever-expanding range. The extinction was only becoming apparent at the start of the 20th century; by 1914, the last known bird was dead. No. 9 - Quagga The quagga is a mammal closely related to modern horses and zebras. In fact, it looks like a cross between a horse and a zebra, with stripes only on its head and neck that disappear as they approach the brownish hindquarters of the animal. The quagga was native to desert areas of South Africa until it was hunted to extinction in the 1870s.

The last captive animals died in Europe in the 1880s. As an extinct species, the quagga has a couple claims to fame. For starters, it was the first animal to have its DNA analyzed, which led to the discovery that the quagga was not a distinct species but a subspecies of the plains zebra. Also, the quagga is the subject of an ambitious breeding effort by the aptly named Quagga Project, the result of which was a foal born in 2005. Based on appearances, the "re-created" quagga closely resembles the ancient quagga, but DNA evidence has yet to determine whether this animal is authentic. No. 8 - Archaeopteryx Holding the No.8 spot in our countdown is an ancient creature named Archaeopteryx, whose discovery in the mid-1800s turned the world of paleontology upside down. It looked like some sort of feathered dinosaur, but it also had a number of bird characteristics. Was it a bird, a dinosaur or some other beast entirely? Clues would come in time, but only after decades of contentious debate and close examination.

In order to fully understand the natural history of Archaeopteryx, one needs first to take a look at some of its unusual characteristics. Its dinosaur features include a full set of teeth, a flat breastbone, a bone tail and claws on the end of its wing. On the other hand, its feathers and wings also made it quite birdlike. However, details of Archaeopteryx anatomy indicated that it was not ideally built for flight and probably spent as much time running, leaping, climbing and gliding as it did flying. So what was this enigmatic animal? It is now widely believed that Archaeopteryx is the most primitive known bird, with several specimens dating back about 150 million years to the Jurassic Period. It is also an evolutionary link between modern birds and a group of dinosaurs that roamed the earth 150 million years ago. Thus, it is one of the most important fossil species ever found. No. 7 - Saber-Toothed Cat Of all the cute, cuddly animals found in the fossil record, the saber-toothed cat (also called the saber-toothed tiger) is one of the last you would want to meet in a dark alley.

With their daggerlike canine teeth and powerful bodies, this animal was one of the most ferocious predators of the Cenozoic Period. It lived in North America and Europe and went extinct about 10,000 years ago. There have been several thousand saber-toothed cat specimens found at the famous La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, Calif. ï¿½ so many that it was named the state fossil of California. So, what were these big beasts like in the wild? Evidence suggests that the saber-toothed cat had a social structure much like modern lions, living together and cooperating in order to bring down prey. Interestingly, researchers also believe that a certain amount of nurturing went on in a saber-toothed cat pack. Many individual fossils show signs of extensive regeneration and healing after disease and injury, suggesting an environment in which individuals could be cared for by other members of the group. Despite their terrifying appearance, it seems these animals had a soft side. No. 6 - Plesiosaur No collection of the top 10 extinct animals would be complete without the enigmatic plesiosaur, a large aquatic reptile that swam in the world's oceans during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

There are several different species of plesiosaur, but the most famous are the ones with a very long neck topped by a tiny head. Most of these animals were astonishingly large, sometimes reaching a whopping 65 feet in length. Many people believe strongly in a connection between the plesiosaur and the Loch Ness Monster, a legendary creature that some say inhabits the waters of Loch Ness in Scotland. Indeed, some believe that the appearance of the Loch Ness Monster is evidence of a living plesiosaur. However, according to the fossil record, plesiosaurs disappeared at the end of the Cretaceous Period, about 65 million years ago. And contrary to popular belief, they were not dinosaurs, despite the fact that both groups lived and died off at the same time. No. 5 - Hallucigenia No. 5 on our countdown dates back more than 500 million years to a time known as the Cambrian Period when most of the major groups of animals first appeared. The Cambrian Period was also a time of evolutionary experimentation in which countless bizarre body plans were tried out and then left behind in the primordial soup.

One particularly odd set of fossils come from an area of the Canadian Rockies known as the Burgess Shale, including a strange little arthropod named Hallucigenia. Hallucigenia gets its name from its body plan, which appears to have been designed by someone under the influence of psychedelic drugs. It has an elongated body with a row of tentacles on one side and a string of stiltlike spines on the other. At first, researchers had no idea which way to orient the animal ï¿½ on its tentacles or on its spines ï¿½ but chose the spines since the tentacles appeared to have mouthparts on the end of them. However, recent evidence suggests that Hallucigenia's tentacles were actually paired appendages used for walking and that the spines were most likely for protection from predators. Based on this discovery, Hallucigenia was finally turned right side up. No. 4 - The Dodo Contrary to popular belief, the dodo was not a stupid or lazy bird. After all, it lived in a predator-free environment where food was plentiful on the ground. Why bother flying when you can simply stroll about at a leisurely pace?

But what was by all accounts the sweet life for the dodo came to an abrupt end in the1600s, when European explorers landed on Mauritius, the island in the Indian Ocean where the dodo made its home. After their arrival, it would be only a few short years before the animal was hunted to extinction, primarily because it was a much-needed source of meat for weary sailors. In addition, the pigs, dogs and rats that inevitably accompanied sailing ships made short work of dodo eggs, which were all too accessible from their nests on the ground. The dodo never stood a chance. No. 3 - Woolly Mammoth If there is one animal most associated with the Ice Age, it has to be the woolly mammoth, that giant shaggy beast with long ivory tusks curling up from its massive trunk-like nose. The woolly mammoth was one of several species of mammoth, the earliest of which were probably small and amphibious creatures living in North Africa until about three million years ago. Their descendants eventually dispersed throughout Eurasia and the woolly mammoth, one of the smaller mammoth species, migrated to North America across the Bering Land Bridge sometime during late Pleistocene.

Alas, this enigmatic creature did not survive long in the New World. The last of the woolly mammoths died out at the end of the last ice age, about ten thousand years ago. No. 2 - Flores Man When researchers stumbled onto remains of what appeared to be a group of mini-humans in an Indonesian cave in 2003, they could hardly conceive of the significance of their find. There were several individuals, each of which had tiny heads and were about 3 feet tall. Did these creatures represent a new species of hominid, some sort of advanced ape or were they merely humans with a medical condition that would account for their diminutive size? The debate rages on, but recent evidence suggests that they may represent a distinct line in human evolution. Nicknamed "Hobbits," these tiny primates were eventually named "Flores man" for the Indonesian island on which they were found. The last of them appear to have died out about 12,000 years ago. Incredibly, this means that Flores man overlapped with modern man for centuries, living in caves and using tools much like primitive humans. Did Flores man encounter modern man and, if so, what was their interaction like?

We may never know the truth, but we now have a great mystery to ponder. No. 1 - Tyrannosaurus Rex Topping the countdown at No. 1, Tyrannosaurus Rex is an animal whose fossil remains are known to school children and adults from all parts of the world as the most fearsome predator that ever walked the planet. Standing about 40 feet in length, with a massive head and jaws that could have eaten an adult man in a single bite, one look at the remains of this brutish beast sends chills down the spine of anyone considering time travel to the Cretaceous Period. So, if Tyrannosaurus Rex and the other dinosaurs were so ferocious, why did they die out? This is one of paleontology's great mysteries, but evidence from the fossil record suggests that there may have been a catastrophic event such as a meteor impact or volcanic eruption that killed off dinosaurs and most other living things on the planet at the time. One thing is certain about dinosaurs in general and Tyrannosaurus Rex in particular: no other group of extinct animals has captivated humans quite so much.

Perhaps it's not so much the animals themselves that command our attention but the idea that such a catastrophe could cause humans to suffer a similar fate. Then, millions of years later, a future life form might be sitting around a table wondering what wiped out such a seemingly well-established creature as Homo sapiens. Zebroid or Zorse, zebrula, zebrule, zebra mule and golden zebra Family: Equidae Genus: Equus A zebroid (also zebra mule and zebrule) is the offspring of any cross between a zebra and any other equine: essentially, a zebra hybrid. In most cases, the sire is a zebra stallion. Offspring of a donkey sire and zebra dam, called a zebra hinny, or donkra, do exist but are rare. Zebroids have been bred since the 19th century. The extinct quagga was also crossed with horses and donkeys. Charles Darwin noted several zebra hybrids in his works. Zebroid is the generic name for all zebra hybrids. The different hybrids are generally named using the portmanteau convention of sire's name + dam's name.

There is generally no distinction made as to which zebra species is used. Many times when zebras are crossbred, they develop some form of dwarfism. Breeding of different branches of the equine family, which does not occur in the wild, generally results in infertile offspring. The combination of sire and dam also affects the offspring. A Zebroid or Zorse A zorse is the offspring of a male zebra and a female horse. This cross is also called a zebrula, zebrule, zebra mule or golden zebra. The rarer reverse pairing is sometimes called a horbra, hebra, zebrinny or zebret. Like most other animal hybrids, the zorse is sterile. A zony is the offspring of a zebra stallion and a pony mare. Medium-sized pony mares are preferred to produce riding zonies, but zebras have been crossed with smaller pony breeds such as the Shetland , resulting in so-called "Zetlands".

A zebra/donkey hybrid sometimes referred to as: zonkey, zebrula, zebrule, zebra mule or golden zebra or zebadonk A "Zonkey" is a cross between a zebra and a donkey. "Zonkey" is not the technically correct name for such a cross. The most commonly accepted terms are zebrula, zebrule, zebra mule or golden zebra. Another name that is sometimes used is "zebadonk". Donkeys are closely related to zebras and both animals belong to the horse family. Zonkeys are very rare. In South Africa, they occur where zebras and donkeys are found in proximity to each other. Like mules, however, they are generally genetically unable to breed, due to an odd number of chromosomes disrupting meiosis. Genetics Donkeys and wild equids have different numbers of chromosomes. A donkey has 62 chromosomes; the zebra has between 32 and 46 (depending on species). In spite of this difference, viable hybrids are possible, provided the gene combination in the hybrid allows for embryonic development to birth. A hybrid has a number of chromosomes somewhere in between.

The chromosome difference makes female hybrids poorly fertile and male hybrids generally sterile due to a phenomenon called Haldane's Rule. The difference in chromosome number is most likely due to horses having two longer chromosomes that contain similar gene content to four zebra chromosomes. Horses have 64 chromosomes, while most zebroids end up with 54 chromosomes. Common wisdom states that hybrids only occur when the zebra is the sire, but the Barbados hybrid demonstrates otherwise. Two other known zebra hinnies have been foaled, but did not survive to adulthood. The rarity of zebra hinnies indicates the smaller number of chromosomes must generally be on the male side if a viable hybrid is to be produced. Before this comes into account, a successful mating needs to be accomplished in the first place. As courtship in horses involves the mare kicking at the stallion's head for some time before allowing him to mount, and as this behavior is stronger in wild equids than in domestic horses, it is difficult enough to get a horse stallion to mate and not be put off by the rough behavior of the non-horse mare. Zonkeys are interspecific hybrids bred by mating two species from within the same genus.

The offspring have traits and characteristics of both parents. Zonkeys vary considerably depending on how the genes from each parent are expressed and how they interact. Physical Characteristics Zebroids (Zorse) physically resemble their nonzebra parent, but are striped like a zebra. The stripes generally do not cover the whole body, and might be confined to the legs or spread onto parts of the body or neck. If the nonzebra parent was patterned (such as a roan, Appaloosa , Pinto horse, Paint , piebald, or skewbald), this pattern might be passed down to the zebroid, in which case the stripes are usually confined to nonwhite areas. The alternative name golden zebra relates to the interaction of zebra striping and a horse's bay or chestnut color to give a zebra-like black-on-bay or black-on-chestnut pattern that superficially resembles the quagga. In zebra-donkey hybrids, there is usually a dorsal (back) stripe and a ventral (belly) stripe. Zorses combine the zebra striping overlaid on colored areas of the hybrid's coat. Zorses are most often bred using solid color horses.

If the horse parent is piebald (black and white) or skewbald (other color and white) (these are known in the United States as pinto), the zorse may inherit the dominant depigmentation genes for white patches, it is understood that tobiano (the most common white modifier found in the horse) directly interacts with the zorse coat to give the white markings. Only the nondepigmented areas will have zebra striping, resulting in a zorse with white patches and striped patches. This effect is seen in the zebroid Eclyse (a hebra rather than a zorse) born in Stukenbrock, Germany in 2007 to a zebra mare called Eclipse and a stallion called Ulysses. Note: There are a number of words used to describe the typical color and spotting patterns of pinto horses. Essentially, a pinto horse is genetically created when an allele for a spotting pattern is present in addition to the genes that create the underlying base coat color. The precise mechanism that creates spotting is not fully understood, but appears to be a form of leucism.

Common terms for describing different types of pinto horses include: Color Tobiano, Overo, Sabino, Tovero Piebald: (term more commonly used in nations using British English). A black and white spotting pattern. Skewbald: (term more commonly used in nations using British English). A spotting pattern of white and any color other than black, often a chestnut and white horse, (sometimes called "brown and white") but now also used to refer to a bay and white horse. Skewbald horses are less commonly Palomino or Buckskin and white, Roan and white, or any number of other shades. Colored: The nations using British English term for Pinto coloration, including both piebald and skewbald. Tricolored: A term for horse with three colors (usually bay and white), in nations using British English, a color usually incorporated into the term skewbald. Zebroids are preferred over zebra for practical uses, such as riding, because the zebra has a different body shape from a horse or donkey, and consequently it is difficult to find tack to fit a zebra.

However, a zebroid is usually more inclined to be temperamental than a purebred horse and can be difficult to handle. Zebras, being wild animals, and not domesticated like horses and donkeys, pass on their wild animal traits to their offspring. Zebras, while not usually very large, are extremely strong and aggressive. Similarly, zorses have a strong temperament and can be aggressive. Historical and Notable Zebroids Zebra-horse hybrid foal with quagga-like marking - The quagga (Equus quagga) is a recently extinct mammal, closely related to horses and zebras. It was a yellowish-brown zebra with stripes only on its head, neck and foreboday. The quagga was native to desert areas of the African continent until it was exterminated in the wild in the 1870s. The last captive quaggas died in Europe in the 1880s, Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum, Tring, England. In 1815, Lord Morton mated a quagga stallion to a chestnut Arabian mare. The result was a female hybrid which resembled both parents.

This provoked the interest of Cossar Ewart, Professor of Natural History at Edinburgh (1882-1927) and a keen geneticist. Ewart crossed a zebra stallion with pony mares to investigate the theory of telegony, or paternal impression. In Origin of Species (1859), Charles Darwin mentioned four colored drawings of hybrids between the ass and zebra. He also wrote "In Lord Morton's famous hybrid from a chestnut mare and male quagga, the hybrid, and even the pure offspring subsequently produced from the mare by a black Arabian sire, were much more plainly barred across the legs than is even the pure quagga." In his book, The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, Darwin described a hybrid ass-zebra specimen in the British Museum as being dappled on its flanks. He also mentioned a "triple hybrid, from a bay mare, by a hybrid from a male ass and female zebra" displayed at London Zoo. This would have required the zebroid sire to be fertile. During the South African War, the Boers crossed the Chapman's zebra with the pony, to produce an animal for transport work, chiefly for hauling guns.

A specimen was captured by British forces and presented to King Edward VII by Lord Kitchener, and was photographed by W S Berridge. Zebras are resistant to sleeping sickness, whereas purebred horses and ponies are not, and it was hoped that the zebra mules would inherit this resistance. Grevy's zebra has been crossed with the Somali ass in the early 20th century. Zorses were bred by the US Government and reported in Genetics in Relation to Agriculture by E. B. Babcock and R. E. Clausen (early 20th century), in an attempt to investigate inheritance and telegony. The experiments were also reported in The Science of Life by H G Wells, J Huxley and G P Wells (c. 1929). The 1970s continued the interest in zebra crosses. A New York Times article from 16 June 1973 mentioned the birth of a cross between a zebra and a donkey at the Jerusalem Zoo.

They called it a "hamzab." In the 1970s, the Colchester Zoo in England bred zedonks, at first by accident and later to create a disease-resistant riding and draft animal. The experiment was discontinued when zoos became more conservation-minded. A number of hybrids were kept at the zoo after this; the last died in 2009. One adult and a foal remain at the tourist attraction of Groombridge Place near Tonbridge in Kent. Today, various zebroids are bred as riding and draft animals, and as curiosities in circuses and smaller zoos. A zorse (more accurately a zony) was born at Eden Ostrich World, Cumbria, England in 2001 after a zebra was left in a field with a Shetland pony. It was referred to as a Zetland. Usually, a zebra stallion is paired with a horse mare or ass mare, but in 2005, a Burchell's zebra named Allison produced a zonkey called Alex sired by a donkey at Highland plantation in the parish of Saint Thomas, Barbados.

Alex, born 21 April 2005, is apparently the first zonkey in Barbados. In 2007, a stallion, Ulysses, and a zebra mare, Eclipse, produced a zebroid named Eclyse, displaying an unusually patchy color coating. The Wild Animal Safari in Springfield, MO has several zedonks as of March 31, 2010. In July 2010, a zedonk was born at the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve in Dahlonega, Georgia. Zorses are bred in Africa and used for trekking on Mount Kenya; the zebra parent gives resistance to the nagana pest disease. Zorses have appeared in several TV shows and movies. In the Viva La Bam episode Groundhogs Day in the final race, Brandon Dicamillo's sled is a zorse. It was colored pink, blue, purple and red and on the 'uncommentary' on the DVD seasons of 'Viva La Bam', Tim Glomb says "If you send me a list of all the episodes where the zorse is I'll give you a dollar".

Also, the 2007 movie "I'm Reed Fish" features a zorse named Zabrina. In the movie Racing Stripes, an animated zorse appears in the alternate ending. It is the son of Stripes (a zebra) and Sandy, a grey Arabian mare. Zorses have also appeared in books. They are briefly mentioned several times in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels. Sutton Coleman wrote a sonnet about zorses and published it in his 2007 book, Ligers, Tigons, and Zorses, Oh My! In Roald Dahl's book Going Solo, he and several other characters speculate on how nice it would be to own a zorse, although they admit it would be difficult to train. Rare & Extinct Creatures: Quagga THE QUAGGA The Quagga was a close relative of horses and zebras. It was a yellowish-brown zebra with stripes only on its head, neck and shoulders and with pale legs. The quagga was native to desert areas of the African continent until it was exterminated in the wild in the 1870s.

The last captive quaggas died in Europe in the 1880's. Zoos sent the request "send more quaggas", but there were no more quaggas left alive. It had been ruthlessly hunted for meat and leather by South African farmers and settlers. When first discovered, the Quagga was simply regarded as one zebra among many and was originally considered to be the female of the Burchell Zebra as the ranges of the species overlapped and there may have been interbreeding. The Hottentots used the same name for both animals. Because the term "quagga" was used indiscriminately to mean any zebra (although "Bontequagga" was sometimes used for the Plains zebra), the true quagga was hunted to extinction without this being realised until too late. The Quagga was basically a brown zebra with white legs and tail. It had no distinct markings on its hind quarters and only vague mottled markings on its back. In conformation it was more horse-like than any of the other zebras which, except for the Burchells, are generally large-headed and donkey-like.

Its mane was distinctive, being described by an early observer as "curious, appearing as if trimmed by art". In the wild, quaggas grazed in mixed herds with wildebeest or hartebeest and ostriches. The colonizing Boers found it the most obvious source of food for their native servants and a source of hides for domestic use and export. Quaggas hides were sturdy and lightweight and many were still in everyday use long after the animal itself was extinct. Quagga were plentiful in the 1840s, but the eradication of the quagga only took around 30 years. From Rev JG Woodï¿½s ï¿½Illustrated Natural Historyï¿½ (1853, 1874): The QUAGGA looks at first sight like a cross between the common wild ass and the zebra, as it only partially possesses the characteristic zebra-stripes, and is decorated merely upon the hind and fore-parts of the body.

The streaks are not so deep as they are in the zebra, and the remainder of the body is brown, with the exception of the abdomen, legs, and part of the tail, which are whitish-grey. The Quagga lives in large herds, and is much persecuted by the natives of Southern Africa, who pursue it for the sake of its skin and its flesh, both of which are in high estimation. The quagga is considered to be a southern subspecies of the plain zebra found in the drier parts of South Africa, on grassy plains. Its northern limit was the Orange River in the west and the Vaal River in the east; its south-eastern border appears to have been the Great Kei River. The last free quaggas were probably those caught in 1870 although a small population may have survived south of the Vaal river until the severe drought of 1878. The last captive quagga was a mare; she died on 12 August 1883 in Amsterdam Zoo, having been exhibited there since 9 May 1867. It was not realised that this quagga mare was the very last of her kind.

It could, even then, have been saved by breeding it to the white-legged, white-tailed Burchell's zebra, itself destined for extinction a few decades later. The quagga's name comes from the Hottentot term for the creature, being an imitation of the zebra's"kwa-ha-ha" call. Tame quagga were used by the Hottentot as equine watchdogs. Although tamed by Hottentots, the quagga was an immensely energetic and highly-strung creature and the stallions were noted to be prone to fits of rage. London Zooï¿½s one chance of breeding quaggas in the 1860s ended when the stallion beat itself to death against the wall of its enclosure. In England in the 1830s, quaggas (probably gelded to make them tractable) were used as exotic harness animals. Sheriff Parkins drove around London seated behind a pair of harnessed quaggas. Burchell's zebras were also popular between the shafts, but quaggas were said to have better mouths.

Recent examination of portions of mitochondrial DNA and protein in the 1980's indicate that the quagga was a subspecies of Burchell's plains zebra. Photography was still in its early days and relied on the subject to make no sudden movements while the plate developed. The only living quagga photographed was the mare housed at London Zoo. She was photographed by Frederick York and Frank Haes in 1870. Four or five photographs exist and have widely reproduced. These are outnumbered by colour paintings (colour plates in naturalist's books, paintings of quaggas in private collections); the earliest paintings being based on descriptions and/or skins. Burchell's Zebra was a subspecies of the Plains Zebra characterised by its unstriped legs and belly and its reddish brown body-stripes with paler "shadow stripes" in between on a cream or buff background colour. Its original range was mainly north of the Orange and Vaals Rivers, extending north into Botswana and the south-western Transvaal, and east to about Natal.

It originally existed in vast herds, but by 1910 it was gone from the wild and the last known individual died in the Berlin Zoo in 1918. Plains zebra are black and white with no shadow stripes, although individuals show some variation (sometimes attributed to throwbacks indicating interbreeding with quagga). Selective breeding of these throwbacks or variant individuals could bring back both the Burchell's race of Plains Zebra and the Quagga; this would involve capturing and breeding together Plains zebra that lack stripes on their hindquarters and legs. Some progress has already been made on this, producing individuals that lack stripes on their legs and rumps. However, will selective breeding really bring back the quagga or will it just produce something that resembles it? There are 23 mounted specimens, 7 skeletons and 13 skulls in museums around the world.

Quagga exhibits are held at Amsterdam and Lieden (the Netherlands), Bamberg, Berlin, Darmstadt, Frankfurt, Mainz, Munich, Stuttgart, Tübingen and Wiesbaden (Germany), Basel (Switzerland), Cape Town and Pretoria (South Africa), Edinburgh (Scotland), Kazan (Russia), Exeter London and Tring (England), Lyon and Paris (France), Milan and Turin (Italy), New Haven and Philadelphia (USA), Stockholm (Sweden) and Vienna (Austria). The variability of striping suggests that some mounted specimens may be quagga x Burchell's zebra hybrids; these possibly interbred naturally where their ranges overlapped or artificially in captivity. R I Pocock, writing in Harmsworth Natural History (1910), classed Burchell's and Chapman's zebras as quaggas while the species known today as the quagga was called Grey's quagga. He described numerous subspecies of quagga, many of which were merely pattern variations within a species.

Pocock wrote: "The trivial and scientific designations of the quagga (Equus quagga) are derived from the name quaha" or ï¿½quacha," given to South African representatives of the species in imitation of their cry. It so happens that the first example to be made known to naturalists cane from the Cape flats and is now extinct; but striped equine animals with the same cry and the sane structural characters are now known to range through the whole of East Africa from Abyssinia to Zululand, and thence westwards to Southern Angola. Distributed over an area so vast and so varied in its physical features and exposed to widely different conditions of climate and temperature, the species exhibits marked local variations in colour and pattern, forming distinguishable geographical races or subspecies.

The northern and eastern races so far south as Mashonaland are fully striped with black and white or pale fawn to the hoofs ; but southwards from Mashonaland occur races in which the stripes exhibit more and more marked signs of disappearance from the legs, belly, and hind quarters; those that formerly inhabited Cape Colony, to which the name quagga was first applied, showing in some cases hardly a trace of striping even on the posterior part of the body. These, as well as some of the decidedly striped more northern races, were known to the Dutch colonists, who, by way of emphasising the difference, spoke of the latter as bontequaggas; but when the relatively less striped races became extinct, the term bontequagga dropped out of use amongst the Dutch, who to this day comprehensively speak of all the South African races as quaggas; and since no competent authorities now doubt that these animals belong to the same species as the existing North African and the extinct South African races, the scientific and vernacular term "quagga" may be extended to the whole series.

In the fully striped races of this species the stripes on the body extend to the median ventral line, those on its anterior half behind the shoulder-stripe, four or five in number, being vertical, while the remainder turn sharply backwards dorsally, no fewer than four forming a bold sweep back on to the hind quarters, this last characteristic being the distinguishing feature of the pattern of the species ; the stripes on the thighs are broad and on the legs numerous and close set the spinal stripe is distinct and widens behind over the saddle and croup, where it is usually separated from the adjoining stripes of the body and quarters. Of these northern forms the best known is Böhmï¿½s quagga (E. quagga boehmi) from British and German East Africa. Nearly allied to it are Jallaï¿½s quagga (E. quagga jallae) from Southern Abyssinia; and Crawshayï¿½s quagga (E. quagga crawshayi) from Southern Nyasaland.

Related to the last is a quagga from North Eastern Rhodesia to which the name annectans has been given, a race characterised by the great breadth of the dark as compared with the light stripes. South of the Zambezi in Mashonaland occurs Selousï¿½s quagga (F. quagga selousi), of the same general stamp as Böhmï¿½s quagga. In the latter faint stripes called " shadow stripes " are sometimes observable between the principal stripes on the quarters. These are also present in Selousï¿½s quagga; but in more southern forms they increase in distinctness and extent concomitantly with the disappearance of the stripes from the legs. Chapmanï¿½s quagga (F. quagga chapmanni), which ranges from Damaraland to the Transvaal, differs from Selousï¿½s quagga in having the legs, below the knees and hocks, sparsely striped. The reduction of the leg stripes is carried still further in Wahlbergï¿½s quagga (F.

quagga wahlbergi), from Zululand, a race which is also distinguished by the great reduction in width of the principal stripes upon the hind quarters; by the distinctness of the shadow stripes on this region, and by their forward extension to the withers. Still more different from the northern races is Burchellï¿½s quagga (F. quagga burchelli), from Bechuanaland, in which the stripes have almost vanished over the hind quarters up to the root of the tail, and on the fore legs up to the shoulder, leaving the legs whitish and almost unstriped; the body stripes no longer reach the middle line of the belly, and the shadow stripes sometimes extend as far as the head. In some of these quaggas, too, the lighter areas are ochre brown, so that there is no longer the sharp contrast between the dark and light stripes seen in the northern types. The next stage in variation is reached by various races, all now extinct, which formerly ranged southwards from the Orange River Colony over Cape Colony to the flats round Cape Town.

The typical quagga, of which only a coloured illustration is extant, was very like a dark-tinted Burchellï¿½s quagga, except that the stripes over the croup were broken up into spots. In other races, as shown by mounted specimens, the obliteration of the pattern was carried still further, so that only the head, neck, and shoulders were distinctly marked; the tendency of the obliteration being to produce a nearly uniformly brownish, or in some cases chestnut, animal with pale legs. But even the few specimens of Cape Colony quaggas that have been preserved show practically a complete gradation from Burchellï¿½s quagga to chestnut-tinted individuals with narrow dark stripes only on the head, neck, and shoulders. Between eleven and twelve hands at the withers is the average height of quaggas. Adapted essentially for living in the plains, quaggas have broader hoofs than the mountain zebra and African asses; the ears are markedly smaller than in other African species of Equidae, and the callosities are intermediate in size between those of the mountain and Grévyï¿½s zebras.

The voice may be described as a ringing bark, comparable in shrillness to that of a small dog, and representable by the syllables "qua ha ha," "qua ha ha," rapidly repeated and sharply uttered, a cry quite unlike the neigh of a horse or the bray of an ass or of Grévyï¿½s zebra. When South Africa was first colonised by Europeans, quaggas were exceedingly common on the flats and plateaus of Cape Colony, where they associated in troops, quite commonly mixed with ostriches, white-tailed gnus, and other antelopes. They were finally exterminated by the Boers in the Cape and Orange River Colonies; and the same fate is rapidly overtaking Burchellï¿½s quagga of Bechuanaland, of which, as in the case of the Cape Colony races, only a few mounted specimens have been preserved, although a few may still be seen in various menageries of Europe and America. Quagga: Can an Extinct Animal be Bred Back into Existence?

– Cool Green Science Smart nature straight to your inbox every week Sign up for the newsletter In South Africa, conservationists are attempting to restore the quagga, a type of zebra notable for its unusual coloration and striping patterns. There’s one major issue: the quagga has been extinct since 1883. De-extinction – resurrecting species that have disappeared – has become a popular if contentious idea in conservation circles. The discussion has focused on cloning well-known extinct animals like the passenger pigeon and woolly mammoth. In the case of the quagga, scientists aren’t cloning them. They’re using livestock breeding techniques. And the project is well underway. Can an animal be bred back into existence? And even if it can, is this a wise use of conservation dollars and effort, or just a gimmick? One of the last quaggas, photographed in a London Zoo. Photo: Frederick York The Last Quagga? As a child, I remember staring at a picture of a quagga in a book of extinct animals. It appeared, to my eye, as a zebra without stripes. A fantastic beast. That impression was only partly true.

The quagga did have some striping but only on its head, neck and front part of the body. Much of the body was brown, with the legs and belly being an unstriped white. This animal once roamed the Karoo Desert and other arid regions of southern Africa, presumably in large herds. This region of South Africa began being settled for agriculture by European colonists quite early; you can visit vineyards today that began in the late 1600s. Those European farmers saw the large, grazing ungulates of the Cape as competition, and began eliminating them with deadly effectiveness. The great herds disappeared. Some animals, such as bontebok and black wildebeest, were reduced to just dozens of animals. Others, like the quagga, weren’t that lucky. Its demise was swift and poorly documented. The last-known individual died in an Amsterdam Zoo in 1883, but no one even realized it at the time. Laws were passed in South Africa protecting the quagga from hunting in 1886, three years after its extinction.

Only one photograph of a live quagga exists, and only 23 skins of the animal can be found in the world’s museums. As such, it achieved an almost-mythical status among naturalists. An animal that disappeared, in recent times, with only the merest of traces. For years, one of the few things we really knew about the quagga is that it would never roam the veldt again. And even that might not turn out to be true. A quagga museum pecimen that was sampled for DNA. Photo: Wikimedia user FunkMonk under a Creative Commons license. Enter the DNA Evidence Scientists long considered the quagga as a species due to its unique appearance. Some even considered it more closely related to wild horses than zebras. In 1984, researchers analyzed the DNA of the existing quagga skins. What they found challenged the conventional wisdom on this animal – and set off a new chapter in conservation history. The DNA evidence determined that the quagga was not a separate species at all, but rather a subspecies of the plains zebra.

The plains zebra is the zebra everyone knows – the common zebra of Africa’s grasslands, the zebra you’re most likely to encounter in nature documentaries and at your local zoo. The evidence suggests that quaggas evolved their unique coat pattern relatively recently in evolutionary time, likely during the Pleistocene. They became isolated from the other plains zebra populations and rapidly evolved the less striped pattern and brown coloration. In scientific circles, discussions of quaggas inevitably lead to questions about what exactly constitutes a species or subspecies. What makes a quagga a quagga? Should DNA alone determine species status? In the case of the quagga, the lack of specimens and reliable field observations creates more questions than answers. In all likelihood, the coat patterns of the quagga demonstrated considerable variation, just as plains zebras exhibit considerable variation in striping. Some quaggas likely more closely resembled plains zebras. That presumption led some researchers to ask: what if some plains zebras exhibited quagga-like characteristics? If so, could these animals be bred to create an animal with fewer stripes and a browner coat? In short, could we bring the quagga back from extinction?

A zebra at Mokala National Park exhibiting quagga-like characteristics, including lack of striping on hind quarters and a darker coloration. Photo: Matt Miller/TNC How the Zebra Lost Its Stripes One of the scientists who took tissue samples from quagga skins was Ronald Rau. His analysis led him to believe that quaggas could be re-created by selective breeding of plains zebras. This resulted in the launch in 1987 of The Quagga Project to do just that. The project is funded by a range of conservation organizations and private corporations and individuals. Just as show dog competitors breed for certain physical characteristics, The Quagga Project selects zebras that exhibit quagga-like characteristics and breeds them. The results are carefully documented and bloodlines tracked. These “quagga-like” zebras now roam in Karoo and Mokala national parks and numerous private reserves in the South African Cape. The results are varied, but each generation some zebras appear to look more like quaggas. But is this a good use of resources, or just a stunt?

With other, existing species in South Africa facing major crises – in particular, white and black rhinos – why focus on breeding an animal to resemble an extinct subspecies? Some argue that the quagga is more than its skin – it may have had ecological adaptations and behavioral differences from plains zebras. No matter how “quagga-like” an animal might look, there’s no way to know if it behaves like a “real quagga.” On the other hand, there’s this: Many of the animals that nearly went extinct — the bontebok , the black wildebeest , the Cape Mountain zebra — have recovered quite nicely and now roam a number of parks and farms. Many private ranchers in South Africa have replaced livestock with wild ungulates, turning to sport hunting and wildlife tourism for income. As such, the Cape now has more large mammals than it had 50 or even 100 years ago. Why not add one more native inhabitant to the mix? Couldn’t herds of quaggas capture the imagination and offer inspiration? On a recent trip to South Africa, I saw the quagga-like zebras in Mokala National Park .

To me, seeing them didn’t seem terribly different than seeing bison on a private ranch, or black-footed ferrets that had been reintroduced after captive breeding. All are human interventions undertaken to restore a measure of wildness. To some, that’s oxymoronic. To others, it’s hope. The “quagga” that returns to the African bush will likely be a different critter than the quagga of history. But that’s true of the bison of the Great Plains, too, isn’t it? There are no clear answers here. Science may very well enable us to replicate an animal that resembles a quagga. Human values will ultimately decide whether we should. What do you think? Is The Quagga Project an innovative conservation program? Or merely an expensive diversion? Tags: Mammals , NaturePop , Technology Matt Miller is director of science communications for The Nature Conservancy and editor of the Cool Green Science blog. A lifelong naturalist and outdoor enthusiast, he has covered stories on science and nature around the globe. Matt has worked for the Conservancy for the past 14 years, previously serving as director of communications for the Idaho program. More from Matt

Question: Which mammal closely related to the zebra died out in the 1880s?
Answer: Quagga